Lessons #287 and 288
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Defense of Paul’s right of support and marriage (1 Cor 9:4-14)
... 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
Recall the message of the first half of the ninth chapter of 1 Corinthians is that ministers of the gospel of Christ have the right of support from believers. In our last study, we began to consider the fourth argument of Apostle Paul in support of his defense of having right of support by the Corinthians. This fourth argument, as we introduced in our last study, is that there is evidence both in the OT Scripture and outside it that those who worked in the temples and their associated activities derived their livelihood from such activities. As we stated in our last study, this argument is given in the rhetorical question given in 1 Corinthians 9:13 Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? The rhetorical question requires an affirmative answer so that the question may be viewed as declaration of the fact that those involved in cultic services derived their food from such practice. It is with this verse that we continue with our study.
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
The apostle used it to reference a fact the Roman believers should know from the Scripture in Romans 11:2:
God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
The translators of the NIV did not end this verse with a question mark as in the Greek but pushed the question mark to end of verse 3 although many of our English versions reflect the Greek by inserting a question mark at the end of verse 2 of Romans 11. We will mention the apostle’s usage of the formula in other passages in 1 Corinthians other than our present passage of study of 1 Corinthians 9:13. The apostle’s first use of the formula in his first epistle to the Corinthians is in connection with an important doctrine that believers should know which is that the Holy Spirit indwells corporately in the church of Christ that he presented as a rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians 3:16:
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
The apostle used the formula a second time in dealing with sexual immorality in the local church in Corinth to convey how one sin could affect others using a metaphorical question that involved yeast and dough in 1 Corinthians 5:6:
Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?
The third and fourth usages of the formula concern believer’s role as judges of the world and angels as we read in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3:
Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
The fifth usage is given in 1 Corinthians 6:9:
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
The sixth is in 1 Corinthians 6:15:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
The seventh is in 1 Corinthians 6:16:
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
The final usage of the formula is in 1 Corinthians 9:24:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
One thing we should note is that the apostle used the formula primarily in rhetorical questions where the expected answer is in the affirmative. Therefore, it is not that surprising that he used it in that way in our passage of study 1 Corinthians 9:13 where the apostle expects the readers to have knowledge of what he wrote.
The knowledge Apostle Paul expects the Corinthians to have is that those who perform services in places of worship are supported from the offerings made by the worshippers. It is possible that the apostle could have a general practice that all the Corinthians would have been familiar from their pagan worship, but it is more likely he was focused on the OT worshippers. Thus, he was thinking of those who worked in Israel’s place of worship that were supported by the offerings of the worshippers. These workers mentioned in 1 Corinthians 9:13, the apostle categorized into two – general workers and specific workers in the place of Israel’s worship. Of course, it is not apparent that the apostle was concerned with two categories of workers in Israel’s place of worship in what is written in the verse we are considering, hence the divided opinions of interpreters about the workers in view but we will demonstrate that the apostle was concerned with two categories of workers in Israel’s place of worship.
The first category of workers in Israel’s place of worship concerns those who render general service in relation to Israel’s place of worship. This first category is implied in the clause of 1 Corinthians 9:13 those who work in the temple get their food from the temple. This clause in the NIV is one of the reasons I believe it is important for a pastor to know the Greek so he could teach by studying from the Greek text or in the case where the person does not know the Greek to consult several English versions to help the individual recognize that there may be a problem in a given verse although that may not necessarily help such a pastor since he would not know which of the English versions is closer to the original Greek. Let me illustrate my point from the clause we are considering. The NASB translates the Greek of our clause as those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple. The ESV reads those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple. The translation of the ESV is similar to that of the NIV but both are different from that of the NASB. A careful reader will notice that the difference between the translation of the NASB and the other two we cited is that the word “temple” appears once in the NASB and twice in either the ESV or the NIV. So, the pastor without the knowledge of the Greek would not be certain of what the original says. Of course, such a person could say that since two English versions use the word “temple” twice that something must be wrong with the translation of the NASB and the person would be wrong. A pastor who studies from the Greek would recognize that the Greek used two related words in the clause we are considering as we will explain shortly that will enable a person to perceive that there are two categories of workers in worship that the apostle would have had in mind as he wrote 1 Corinthians 9:13.
The first occurrence of the word “temple” in the NIV is translated from a Greek word (hieros) that appears twice in the Greek NT. It appears as an adjective with the meaning “holy” in the sense of pertaining to being of transcendent purity as Apostle Paul used the word to describe the Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:15:
and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Another occurrence of the word is with an article and means “holy thing,” that is, things that are sacred or proper for religious worship, as opposed to what is common. This is the meaning in which it is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:13 although in the sense of belonging to the temple and its service. To convey this meaning some of our English versions use the phrase “temple services” as in the ESV or “sacred services” in the NASB. The NET although translated the Greek using the word “temple” twice gave a foot note that reads “working the sacred things.” It is because the apostle had in mind “holy things” or “sacred things” that we can recognize that he was probably thinking of two categories of workers in Israel’s worship activities that we will get to shortly.
The second word “temple” used in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 9:13 those who work in the temple get their food from the temple is translated from a Greek word (hieron) that means “sanctuary, temple” used in three different ways in the NT. The word is used for Greco-Roman temples as that is the sense Demetrius from Ephesus used the word to describe the temple of his people’s goddess, Artemis in Acts 19:27:
There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
Another use of the meaning “temple” is for the temple at Jerusalem, including the whole temple precinct with its buildings, courts, the porches, porticoes, and other buildings subordinated to the temple itself. It is the meaning of temple complex without distinction that the word is used to describe the place Peter and John went to pray as described in Acts 3:1:
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.
The word “temple” as used in connection with Jerusalem could refer to an area of temple different from the interior part of the temple complex as it is used in John 7:14:
Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.
The word “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area where Jesus taught from the interior of the temple building itself since the phrase to the temple courts is literally to the temple. It is this same area that the apostles went to teach after their miraculous release from prison with the instruction from an angel to continue preaching the gospel as we read in Acts 5:21:
At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.
The word “temple” as used regarding that in Jerusalem may refer to what is known as “Gentile court” as that was the place of merchandizing that the Lord Jesus drove merchants away as recorded in Matthew 21:12:
Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
The Greek word that we are considering could refer to the “women courts” as that is where the Prophetess Anna spent her time, according to Luke 2:37:
and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
Still another use of temple is in a general sense where it can refer either to the temple of the true God in Jerusalem or temple of the pagan gods. It is probably in this sense that it is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:13. By the way, we should note that there is a third Greek word (naos) that in our English versions is most often translated “temple” as in the place Judas Iscariot returned the betrayal money he received as recorded in Matthew 27:5:
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
The third Greek word may be used for the inner part of a temple or shrine as that is the way it is translated in the NIV of Acts 19:24:
A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen.
Anyway, a primary difference between the third Greek word and the second used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:13 is that second is never spiritualized or used as imagery as the third is used. For example, the third word is used in Jesus’ description of His body that those who heard Him misconstrued as a reference to the temple at Jerusalem, as we read in John 2:19–21:
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
This aside, we contend that the Greek word used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:13 refers to the temple of the true God in Jerusalem or temple of the pagan gods but that the apostle was focused on the temple in Jerusalem or the worship system of the OT since he was brought up under that system and knows his OT Scripture.
In any case, the first category of workers in the holy things or sacred things in relation to Israel’s worship that are supported by the worshippers is described in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 9:13 those who work in the temple get their food from the temple or literally the ones performing the holy things/sacred things eat the things of the temple. The apostle when he wrote the literal Greek would probably have been thinking of the Levites that are not of the family of Aaron since they are those who have the responsibility of carrying out many of the works associated with the worship of God in the OT. They were assigned, for example, the responsibility of caring for the Tent of Meeting of Israel as we read in Numbers 1:48–53:
48 The LORD had said to Moses: 49 “You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites. 50 Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony—over all its furnishings and everything belonging to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they are to take care of it and encamp around it. 51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who goes near it shall be put to death. 52 The Israelites are to set up their tents by divisions, each man in his own camp under his own standard. 53 The Levites, however, are to set up their tents around the tabernacle of the Testimony so that wrath will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are to be responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”
The Levites were not only responsible for the care of the tabernacle, but they did other works needed in the Tent of Meeting other than offer sacrifices as implied in Numbers 18:2–4:
2 Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the Tent of the Testimony. 3 They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the Tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die. 4 They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the Tent of Meeting—all the work at the Tent—and no one else may come near where you are.
The Tent of Meeting with everything associated with it is part of the temple of God that Solomon built as we read in 2 Chronicles 5:7–10:
7 The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. 9 These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
Because of the work of the Levites in the Tent of Meeting, they are to be supported by the tithes and offering the Israelites bring to the Lord as part of their worship, as stated in Numbers 18:21:
“I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting.
Further details are provided to the Levites regarding the tithes they received as we read in Numbers 18:25–30:
25 The LORD said to Moses, 26 “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the LORD’s offering. 27 Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. 28 In this way you also will present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the LORD’s portion to Aaron the priest. 29 You must present as the LORD’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’ 30 “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.
Thus, when Apostle Paul described those who are supported from the activities of the work of the temple in Jerusalem, he would have been thinking first about the Levites and so they were the first category he described in the clause in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 9:13 those who work in the temple get their food from the temple.
The second category of workers in the holy things or sacred things in relation to Israel’s worship that are supported by the worshippers consists of the priests. They are the ones described in the last clause in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 9:13 and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar. This clause clearly is meant to differentiate those described in the first clause from those described in the second clause. To begin with, those in the first clause were described using a Greek word (ergazomai) that may mean “to work” or “to perform” but those in view in the second clause were described with the Greek word (paredreuō) that appears only here in the Greek NT that means “to attend to” although it is used in the sense of “to busy oneself,” that is, to be occupied with and attendant upon (something). If the apostle did not intend to differentiate the first group from the second, then he should have used the same Greek word used in the first clause in the second. Thus, the word “serve,” in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 9:13 is intended to differentiate two groups of workers in the worship activities of the OT.
Another indicator that enables us to recognize the apostle was concerned with two categories of workers that were supported by activities associated with Israel’s worship is the phrase of the second clause we are considering at the altar. The word “altar” is translated from a Greek word (thysiastērion) that means “altar” as a reference to a structure on which cultic observances are carried out, including especially sacrifices. It can refer to the altar of burnt offering in the inner forecourt of the temple at Jerusalem as the location where Zechariah was murdered that the Lord Jesus referenced in Luke 11:51:
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
The word may refer to altar of incense as it is used to describe where Zechariah the father of John the Baptist went to offer sacrifice when an angel appeared to him as we read in Luke 1:11:
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
The word may refer to an altar in general as in the complaint of Prophet Elijah to the Lord that Apostle Paul quoted in Romans 11:3:
“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?
The word may be used figuratively to refer to heavenly altar as it is used in Hebrews 13:10:
We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
It is our interpretation that the sentence we have an altar is a reference to a heavenly altar. In other words, the human author of Hebrews indicates that believers have a heavenly altar in which a different kind of sacrifice is brought to God, a sacrifice of praise that the author mentions later in Hebrews 13:15:
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
It is this heavenly altar that is mentioned in Revelation 8:3:
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
Anyway, our Greek word may be used in different ways in describing an altar. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:13, it is used in the sense of “altar of burnt offering.” There is no doubt that an altar is part of the temple but because the apostle wanted to differentiate the two categories of workers in the worship system of Israel, he used the word “altar” instead of temple.
Those who serve in the altar in the temple of Israel are clearly the priests who are responsible for offering sacrifices on behalf of Israel. Consequently, the Lord gave instruction regarding their support from the various sacrifices they were to offer. They obtained grains from grain offerings as we read in Leviticus 6:14–18:
14 “‘These are the regulations for the grain offering: Aaron’s sons are to bring it before the LORD, in front of the altar. 15 The priest is to take a handful of fine flour and oil, together with all the incense on the grain offering, and burn the memorial portion on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 16 Aaron and his sons shall eat the rest of it, but it is to be eaten without yeast in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. 17 It must not be baked with yeast; I have given it as their share of the offerings made to me by fire. Like the sin offering and the guilt offering, it is most holy. 18 Any male descendant of Aaron may eat it. It is his regular share of the offerings made to the LORD by fire for the generations to come. Whatever touches them will become holy.’”
The priest received their meat from sin offering as stated in Leviticus 6:25–26:
25 “Say to Aaron and his sons: ‘These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the LORD in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. 26 The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.
Additional meat was obtained through the fellowship offerings of the Israelites as instructed in Leviticus 7:28–34:
28 The LORD said to Moses, 29 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the LORD is to bring part of it as his sacrifice to the LORD. 30 With his own hands he is to bring the offering made to the LORD by fire; he is to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the LORD as a wave offering. 31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. 32 You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution. 33 The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share. 34 From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their regular share from the Israelites.’” 35 This is the portion of the offerings made to the LORD by fire that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests.
Although we have mentioned meat and grain associated with sacrifices but that is not all the Levites and priests receive. They receive other stables as we read in Numbers 18:11–15:
11 “This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it. 12 “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest. 13 All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it. 14 “Everything in Israel that is devoted to the LORD is yours. 15 The first offspring of every womb, both man and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.
By the way, the Levites and priests also received livestock as part of tithes that were meant for them as we read in Leviticus 27:32–33:
32 The entire tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the LORD. 33 He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.’”
Hence, there is clear instruction that indicates the priests derived their food from the various offerings presented at that altar but not the other Levites, implying that the apostle intended to differentiate two kinds of workers involved in Israel’s worship. That aside, the point is that the OT Scripture indicates that those who are involved in the various activities related to the worship of God in the OT derived their food from what was offered to the Lord, indicating that those who minister to the Lord in the OT derived their livelihood from their ministry. By the way, although Apostle Paul focused on the OT Scripture, the believers in Corinth would also have known the truth of what the apostle stated because even among the pagans, their priests derived their living from the offerings made in the temples of their gods. Nonetheless, the argument of the apostle is that the OT Scripture gives examples of those who were totally devoted to the ministry of Israel’s worship being supported by the worshippers through their offerings and tithes. In any event, the fourth argument of Apostle Paul in support of his defense of having right of support by the Corinthians is that there is evidence both in the OT Scripture and outside it that those who worked in the temples and their associated activities derived their livelihood from such activities. This brings us to the fifth and final argument.
The fifth and final argument of Apostle Paul in support of his defense of having right of support by the Corinthians is that the Lord Jesus Christ commands such support. The apostle’s fifth argument is related to the fourth argument and adds to the fourth argument. The reason for saying that the fifth argument is related to the fourth is that 1 Corinthians 9:14 begins with the phrase In the same way which is the way the NIV and majority of our English versions translated a Greek adverb (houtōs) that begins the verse that is used primarily in two ways in the Greek. It could refer to that which follows in a discourse material and so may be translated “as follows.” Another usage is to refer to what precedes in which case it may mean “in this way, so, thus.” It is in this second usage that the adverb is used in verse 14 to indicate that the fifth argument of the apostle is related to the fourth argument of those who worked in the temple and associated activities derived their living from their work. In other words, the fifth argument is of the same nature to that of the fourth since the concept expressed in the fifth argument goes back to the fourth. The translators of the AMP captured this concept since they began verse 14 with the phrase On the same principle. In effect, the apostle is saying that in the same way those devoted workers in OT worship were provided support so should those in the NT that are fully devoted to the ministry should be supported. Of course, we indicated that the fifth argument adds to the fourth argument because the Greek adverb we mention is followed by a Greek conjunction (kai) that is often translated “and” in our English versions but not translated here in nearly all our English versions except in some of the English versions that are more literal in their translation. In our verse, the Greek conjunction has the meaning of “also” to indicate that the fifth argument is an additional argument that is of equal importance to the fourth argument. You see, the apostle focused on the authority of the Scripture from two perspectives in the fourth and fifth arguments. In the fourth argument, he referred to what is written in the OT through the Holy Spirit but in the fifth argument he referred to what is written down through the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the two arguments relate to God the Holy Spirit and God the Son. The point is that we should recognize that both the fourth and fifth arguments are of equal significance coming from God although two members of the Godhead are referenced. The fourth and fifth arguments convey to us that the final authority to settle any argument in matters of faith is the Scripture. There is no authority higher than God’s word for us to operate as believers. Consequently, if we cannot find support for our practice or point of view in the Scripture, we should desist from such a practice or viewpoint.
Be that as it may, the fifth argument of Apostle Paul that is based on the instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ is given in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 9:14 the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. Who is the Lord in question, you may ask? It is our interpretation that it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. First, it is because of the Greek word (kyrios) used that may mean “owner” in the sense of one who is in charge by virtue of possession. The word may mean “lord, master” as a reference to one who is in a position of authority. It can also mean “sir” as a title of respect. The word may be used to refer to Jesus Christ. It is in this sense that it is used in citation of the OT Scripture in John 1:23:
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
However, Apostle Paul quite often used the word in referring to the Lord Jesus as he used it in the exhortation for believers to remain zealous regarding spiritual matters as we read in Romans 12:11:
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:14, the word is used to describe Jesus Christ. Second, our interpretation that Lord refers to Jesus Christ is supported by the action attributed to the Lord in the verse we are considering.
The action of the Lord in the verse we are considering is that of commanding support to be given to those who preach the gospel as we read in 1 Corinthians 9:14 the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. The word “command” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (diatassō) that may mean two things. The word may mean “to make arrangements,” that is, to put into a proper order or relationship as the word is used to describe the arrangement made ahead of time by Paul regarding where his team will catch up with him, as narrated in Acts 20:13
We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot.
Another thing our Greek word means is “to order, to instruct, to direct, to command,” that is, to give detailed instruction as to what must be done. So, the word is used with the meaning “to order” regarding the treatment of Apostle Paul as directed by Governor Felix as we read in Acts 24:23:
He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs.
It is in the sense of “to direct” that the word is used in describing the assignment Apostle Paul gave to Titus as a resident pastor in Crete as we read in Titus 1:5:
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:14, it means “to charge/instruct” in the sense of “to authoritatively give someone detailed instructions on what to do.”
The command of the Lord regarding support of the ministers of the gospel should be understood as given directly and indirectly. Directly, in the sense that the instruction or the charge is given to those who preach as we read in the clause 1 Corinthians 9:14 those who preach the gospel. Literally, the Greek reads the ones proclaiming the good-news. This is because the word “preach” is translated from a Greek word (katangellō) that means “to proclaim, announce,” that is, to make known in public, with the implication of broad dissemination as the word is used to indicate that Apostle Paul proclaimed God’s word to the Jews in Salamis as reported in Acts 13:5:
When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
So, the instruction is directed to those who proclaim publicly the word of God described in the word gospel in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 9:14.
The word “gospel” is translated from a Greek word (euangelion) we argued in 1 Corinthians 9:12 that the apostle used it not only in the sense of the gospel, that is, the proclamation of the good news concerning salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but also encompassing doctrinal teaching of the Christian faith as both teaching and preaching are what form the ministry of the word as implied first in Galatians 6:6:
Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
And then in 1 Timothy 5:17:
The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
Anyway, it is in this sense of the gospel and doctrinal teaching that the Greek word translated gospel in the NIV is used in 1 Corinthians 9:14 so that the Lord’s instruction is to those who proclaim the word of God. However, in the context of the instruction, the Lord addressed those who were on mission field. We say this because there is no direct statement of the Lord giving a general instruction to those who proclaim the word other than the instruction given to the disciples that the Lord sent out to the mission field. We are saying that the command the apostle meant in our passage is the instruction of the Lord Jesus to His disciples as we find in Luke 10:7:
Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
In the context of Luke, the instruction to stay in a given house is given to the seventy-two disciples that the Lord Jesus sent out to preach the message of the kingdom of God. Thus, they are the ones the Lord Jesus commanded to receive support from those they proclaimed the word of God. In effect, the Lord meant that they should not feel uncomfortable because they eat the food of the people, they went to proclaim the word of God. His reason is that a worker deserves his wages. This means that those who proclaim the word of God deserves to be supported by those who are beneficiaries of their work. The point is that the instruction of the Lord about supporting the ministers of God’s word is given directly to them as indicated by the command of our Lord Jesus to the seventy-two disciples He sent out on a mission field. However, the instruction is given indirectly to those who are the recipients of the ministry of the word. We say this because the Lord did not instruct the owners of the houses that the seventy-two disciples were to stay to feed or to take care of them. That was implied or understood. It is this implication that is also conveyed in the expression of 1 Corinthians 9:14 should receive their living from the gospel. The phrase their living refers to the support those who minister the word of God should receive for their work. Anyway, in the original passage of Luke 10:7 that Apostle Paul referred, there was no instruction given to those who were the beneficiaries of the mission work of the seventy-two, but it is implied that they would provide support of food and shelter to the disciples. It is for this reason we contend that the Lord Jesus instructed indirectly the beneficiaries of the proclamation of the word of God to support those who minister the word of God to them. Unlike those that were to provide food and shelter for the disciples, believers are clearly instructed to support those who teach them the word as we have noted previously in Galatians 6:6, for example.
The fact the Lord commanded those who preach and teach God’s word to receive support from their ministry activities, but Paul indicated he did not receive any support from the Corinthians has led to the question of whether the apostle did not disobey the command of the Lord Jesus Christ. Several explanations have been given regarding the apostle’s action and what he said about the Lord’s command here in 1 Corinthians 9:14. To me, the worst explanation is the interpretation that says that the fact the apostle did not obey the Lord’s command indicates that for him even commands of the Lord were not binding precepts. I say this because the apostle had profound respect for the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior and as God-man that this view would be unthinkable for him. This notwithstanding, there are plausible explanations to what appears to be a disobedience on the part of the apostle. There is the interpretation that the original passage of Luke 10:7 the apostle quoted is not a command but a proverb in which case the apostle did not disobey the Lord. This is plausible except that in Luke 10:7, the expression Stay in that house involved a command since the word “stay” is translated from a command in the Greek that implies repeated action on the part of the seventy-two. Another interpretation is that the apostle could have considered something to be a command of the Lord and still judge that he himself did not have to take advantage of a “right” that such a command accorded him. This is possible. However, we contend that the apostle did not disobey the Lord’s command if we understand the original command in its context. Therefore, let us briefly consider again the passage of Luke 10:7:
Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
The original command of the Lord is for the disciples to be content with the hospitality they receive from the owners of the houses that welcome them and they should not feel unease about the provision given to them. The Lord first dealt with the problem of feeling unease by justifying the command for the disciples to accept what is given to them. The justification is in the clause for the worker deserves his wages. This is then followed by elaboration of the fact that the original command concerns being content with what the disciples were offered. It is to convey this that we have the second command that prohibits hopping from house to house seeking better provision as in the command Do not move around from house to house. Thus, the command of the Lord is for workers to be content with what they are offered, implying that they are not to ask for support but accept what they receive that is implied by their presence in a house. It is true Apostle Paul insisted he did not use his right among the Corinthians, especially as he did not burden them by asking for help as he wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:9:
And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.
The situation of the apostle would have been that the Corinthians in the beginning of his ministry to them did not offer support and he did not ask for it. If this is the case, he did not disobey the Lord’s instruction because the support was not offered and so he considered it not proper to ask for it. This is because the command of the Lord to the seventy-two disciples is premised on the assumption, those they preached the word offered hospitality to them willingly once they showed up in their homes. This makes sense since the apostle accepted support from other local churches that offered it while in Corinth as we read, for example, in 2 Corinthians 11:7–10:
7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.
My point is that there is no evidence that the Corinthians initially offered support that was rejected by the apostle. If this was the case, the apostle did not disobey the command of the Lord since he received support from other local churches.
In any event, the fifth argument of the Apostle Paul about his right of support by the Corinthians is that the Lord instructs him to rely on the recipients of his ministry to support him and by implication that those he ministered the word should support him. What he says applies to all those who are devoted to the ministry of the word and no other occupation. Hence, the general message we have considered which is that ministers of the gospel of Christ have the right of support from believers. This is supported by the five arguments of the apostle we have considered. First, that he and Barnabas have the right of material support and marriage to a fellow believing woman. Second, people get rewarded from their services. Third, His work in Corinth gives him more the right of support from the Corinthians than any other gospel worker they have had. Fourth, there is evidence both in OT Scripture and outside it that those who worked in the temples and their associated activities derived their livelihood from such actives. Fifth, the Lord Jesus commands such support. In application, you have the responsibility as a believer to support ministers of the gospel of Christ, especially those from whom you benefit.